


Trial by Fire Extras

by Toboe1087



Series: Trial by Fire [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crossover Pairings, F/M, M/M, Rare Pairings, Soul Bond, Soulmates, wizard!Akaashi, wizard!Kuroo, wizard!bokuto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-06-28 18:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15712650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toboe1087/pseuds/Toboe1087
Summary: This is a collection of extras for the Trial by Fire universe that I will update sporadically. It will include scenes like meetings that never occurred in the original fic (Kuroo going to the UK, Hermione meeting other volleyball players, Hermione in scenes that occur later in Haikyuu, etc.). It probably won't make too much sense if you haven't read Trial by Fire, so please read that first.Basically, the manga and the eternal wait for season four are killing me, and writing these scenes is my chosen antidote.





	1. Meeting Oikawa

**Author's Note:**

> These scenes will be in no particular order, just posted as inspiration strikes me. 
> 
> There will be spoilers for the manga, but I will always give you a warning in the notes at the beginning of those chapters.
> 
> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

Hermione turned off the faucet and dried her hands off on a nearby paper towel. 

She couldn’t stop smiling. Kei and his team had just beaten Aobajosai, and all of them were on cloud nine. 

Tetsurou had skipped school to come watch the game with her and had been shouting himself hoarse the entire time, either yelling at or for Kei. 

Hermione slipped out of the restroom and was surprised to see the Aobajosai setter (Oikawa? She thought that was his name, but she wasn't sure) standing a little ways off with another boy from the team. One of the spikers. 

She tried to slip by without them noticing, but his eyes narrowed at the sight of her Karasuno jumper. He muttered something in Japanese, but when she failed to respond he growled out, “Oi, Karasuno-san.”

Hermione sighed and stopped to look at the two. “Gomen. Nihongo-o hanasemasen.”

The two blinked at her in surprise while Hermione fidgeted. Why did the setter even want to talk to her?

“English?” Hermione nodded warily, whatever animosity the boy had first held now seemed to be fading into curiosity. She hoped he didn’t speak English well. 

“Why are you with Karasuno if you can’t speak Japanese?” Of course he could speak English. 

“Tsukishima-san is my cousin.”

The boy appeared to be thinking for a moment. “Megane-kun?”

“Hai.” Hermione shifted her weight, trying to think of a polite way to leave the conversation. He was harmless at the moment, but she really wanted to go talk to Tetsurou and the team.

_What’s taking you so long?_

She smiled slightly. Speak of the devil. Or think of him in this case?

She sent a reply down their bond. _The Aobajosai setter stopped me in the hallway._

_I’m coming._

Hermione rolled her eyes internally. There was no need for that, but she could hardly stop him. She returned her attention to the setter, who was watching her critically. The spiker was now leaning against the wall with a put-upon expression.

“You know, you’re kinda cute.”

Hermione sputtered, “What?” Seriously, was that his idea of flirting? That she was ‘kind of’ cute? And why would he flirt with an opposing team’s manager?

“Your smile is cute. I’m glad you’re not like your cousin, who frowns all the time.” Hermione felt Tetsurou coming closer. This would not go well. Please let him be alone and not with Kei.

“I’m not interested.” The spiker on the wall started snickering while the setter just looked affronted. 

“Aw, don’t be shy.” Oikawa smiled at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. As if she couldn’t tell that his smile was fake. “If you’re going to fake a smile, you could at least do it convincingly.” The spiker's snickering was getting louder.

“What do you mean?”

Hermione raised an eyebrow but decided not to respond. She started to turn and leave. It would be best if she left before Tetsurou arrived, anyway.

“Wait! At least tell me your name, manager-san.”

“Why should I? You haven’t given me yours.” And he reminded her way too much of Lockhart.

“You don’t know?” The setter blinked in honest surprise, then smiled brightly at her. “I’m Oikawa Toru.” 

“Thanks for the name, I’ll be sure to mention it when I complain to the team.”

He clicked his tongue in frustration. “For a pretty girl, you have quite the sharp tongue.” So a girl can’t be pretty and sharp-witted? What the heck? Tetsurou was in the hallway now, and Hermione was ticked enough that she’d let him make whatever scene he wanted.

Hermione felt Tetsurou’s arm around her waist. “The sharp criticisms mean she’s not interested in you, dumbass.” Tetsurou was smirking at the setter.

“Hmph.” The setter looked between the two of them. “Well obviously if she likes someone who is clearly a ruffian, it can’t be helped.” 

Hermione’s eyebrow twitched. 

Tetsurou held out his hand, his grin sharp. “Kuroo Tetsurou, captain of the Nekoma volleyball team.”

“Nekoma? That’s a Tokyo school.” Oikawa’s expression shifted slightly as he realized Tetsurou was a rival player, not just a random schoolboy from Karasuno. He shook Tetsurou’s hand. “Oikawa Toru. Yoroshiku.” 

“I’m afraid I can’t say the same.” Tetsurou smirked at him as he withdrew his hand. Oikawa glared at the two of them. 

“Well. I suppose if you’re both rude, you’re the perfect couple.”

“You’re the one who stopped me in the hallway and tried to flirt with me, Oikawa-san. What were you trying to do? Get back at the team by having one of their managers fawn over you?” Yachi or Shimizu would never do that, much less Hermione herself. 

“Hmph.” Oikawa frowned at the two of them. “Come on Iwa-chan, let’s go.”

“I’d say see you at nationals, but you aren’t going, are you?”

Hermione winced, that line was a bit low. The setter turned around to glare at Tetsurou. “Tokyo preliminaries haven’t been held yet, so it’s not like you know you will be!”

Tetsurou shrugged, his smirk casual, “It’s only a matter of time, for us.”

“Right.” Oikawa rolled his eyes. “I’ll see you at nationals then, Kuroo-san. We’ll both be in the bleachers watching everyone else play.” With that he turned around and marched off. 

Tetsurou just laughed. “Come on, Mio. Let’s get back to Tsukki and the others.”

Hermione sighed, “That’s what I’ve been trying to do this whole time.”

“Well obviously a pretty girl like you is just irresistible to these lowlifes, and you need my charming company to dissuade them.”

“Just keep telling yourself that, Tetsurou.”


	2. Volleyball Idiots: Tsukki vs. Ushijima

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

Tetsurou was practically vibrating with excitement next to her. 

Kei had been doing really well this match, and her soulmate kept exclaiming things like, ‘That’s my kouhai!’ and ‘gah, he’s so freaking persistent it’s great.’ 

All of these remarks amused Akiteru, who was standing on her other side, a great deal. Her older cousin did, however, bicker with Tetsurou quite a bit about which one of them actually had more to do with Kei’s volleyball training.

Karasuno was now locked in a deuce with Shiratorizawa in the second set, and Hermione was nervous for Karasuno. They needed to win this set set. Everyone was giving it their all, but they couldn’t seem to get the necessary two-point lead to win. 

And then it happened. 

Kei blocked Ushijima’s spike. 

Hermione started cheering for her cousin but was drowned out by the two boys on either side of her. She thought Akiteru might actually be crying in happiness and pride. 

“That’s how you do it, Tsukki!” Tetsurou was leaning over the rails, yelling at Kei, who was entirely oblivious to them as he was currently underneath a Karasuno dog pile. 

Hermione grinned. Kei had good friends, though he was no doubt fussing at them because of the attention. 

All too soon, though the next set started. And then the third and fourth set go by quickly, with Shiratorizawa and Karasuno each taking one. Tetsurou seemed highly entertained by Hinata’s method of defense, snickering to himself about how Bokuto would approve. 

As the match progressed, it became increasingly obvious that Kei was the cornerstone of the Karasuno blockers, and Hermione couldn’t be prouder of her prickly cousin. 

She was dismayed when the out-of-bounds ruling for Ushijima’s spike was overruled, but her attention quickly zeroed in on her cousin.

Kei’s eyes had stopped following the ball. 

Her feet started moving on their own accord, watching her cousin’s face as it clouded in pain. She could hear Tetsurou and Akiteru following behind her. 

She would fix this, somehow. What good was having a witch for a cousin if all it did was get him injured?

“Kei-kun!” She could see him and Shimizu down the hallway, presumably heading for the hurse’s station. 

Kei turned toward her voice, a flicker of hope in his eyes. “Neesan. Kuroo-senpai.” His eyebrow twitched as he saw Akiteru next to them. “I thought I told you not to come, niichan.”

“So they can watch you, but I can’t?”

“You wouldn’t let me watch your matches.”

“Well I had to come see you fight bravely, didn’t I?” Akiteru grinned at his brother.

Hermione ignored their banter and turned to Shimizu, “I can handle it from here, Shimizu-san. You can go back to the game.” Shimizu looked uncertain, so Hermione pressed on, “You never know if they might need you for something else.” Thankfully, that seemed to work. Shimizu nodded, at least.

“Don’t worry, Tsukishima-san. You won’t be going back just to see them lose.” Kei nodded, and Shimizu ran back toward the gym.

Hermione immediately grabbed Kei’s arm and pulled him around the corner. “Tetsurou, Akiteru, shield us from view.” She pulled out her wand, casting a notice-me-not first, just to be safe, then a diagnostic charm. A dislocation. She quickly fixed that, but the muscles would have to stay sprained, at least until after the doctor had seen them.

“Come on, Kei, there’s no way he won’t let you back into the game, now, but it will be too suspicious if we don’t go to the medical tent at all. I’ll let him see this and then fix it completely after the doctor’s seen it.” 

“Arigatou, neesan.” They started jogging toward the nurse’s station.

“Sheesh, you’re lucky she’s your cousin, kid. That hand looks nasty.”

“Shut up, Kuroo-senpai. It’s not like you’re that much older than me.”

“Ah, you’ll understand in two years.”

“If you’re so much wiser, do you have any ideas about blocking Ushijima?”

“Aw, coming to me for advice, kouhai?” Tetsurou smirked and shot Akiteru a triumphant look, though the older Tsukishima just rolled his eyes.

Kei refused to look at Tetsurou, keeping his eyes focused ahead of him. “I’ll deny this entire conversation later if you tell anyone.”

“Hai, hai.” Tetsurou cocked his head to the side, thinking for a moment. “You’ve done a good job fraying the setter’s nerves, and Ushijima has to be running low on stamina, so keep acting on that.”

“Any advice that’s not obvious, Kuroo-san.”

Tetsurou sighed, “You’ve established patterns, right? You’ve gotten used to their movements, so they’ve gotten used to yours, too. Do something different, anything, even if it’s just moving to different positions. Switch it up when they least expect it. And don’t forget that setter likes to time dumps just like Kageyama does.”

Kei nodded, but didn’t respond since they’d reached the nurse’s station. Hermione fidgeted impatiently while the doctor diagnosed Kei. Everything was so much quicker with magic. She disliked the way that the tape would limit his mobility, but there wasn’t much she could do about that, not when everyone had seen the injury. 

The second they were outside the office, though, Hermione healed the hand completely, removing all the pain. 

“Arigatou.” 

“If you can, remember to act like you’re still in pain. If that’s too much to focus on, though, blame your lack of awareness on an adrenalin rush.”

Kei nodded in understanding, then took off at a run back toward the gym. 

“And to think, he used to question why people liked the sport.” Tetsurou shook his head, his hands in his pockets as he walked back to the gym. He stopped after a few steps. “Tch. The brat never thanked me for my advice.”

Hermione giggled, “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunities to scold him about that later, Tetsu.” She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, walking side by side with him. 

Akiteru sighed. “I really hope they win this match.”

“They will.” Hermione didn’t know how, but she knew for certain that they would. The opposite fate just wasn’t imaginable for the team.

Tetsurou glanced sideways at her, “You told me you sucked at divination.”

Hermione snorted. “It’s not divination. I just know Karasuno is more determined for victory than Shiratorizawa.” 

“Oh, so legilimancy?” Hermione whacked his shoulder. 

“Just shut up, Tetsurou.”

“You going to make me, love?”

_Damn, she’s always so cute when riled._

Hermione glared at her soulmate, but he just smirked wider. “Does a Karasuno victory count as a special moment?”

“Not if you keep acting like this.”

He held up his hands in a placating gesture, “Alright, I’ll behave.” He opened the gym doors for her while Akiteru laughed at them. 

The match was still going on, and Kei was walking onto the court, switching places with Narita. Hermione’s eyes quickly darted toward the scoreboard. 

Match point.

Kei was talking to his teammates, planning something, and then the whole team split up. Tetsurou smirked when Kageyama and Hinata switched places, then laughed in delight when the three blockers blocked off Ushijima’s path for a straight, forcing him to make an angled shot. 

“Tsukki’s freaking brilliant.” 

Karasuno rallied for an attack, Hinata spiked the ball, it hit the opposing player’s hand, then…it went out. 

Hermione’s eyes widened as happiness flooded her, both from Tetsurou and herself. 

Kei had won. 

“You’re never going to let him live down taking your advice, are you?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Tetsurou smirked at her. “My advice was pretty vague, though. That plan was all Tsukki.” He grinned. “One step closer to the Battle at the Garbage Dump.”

“Think you and Kenma-san can uphold your side?”

He smirked at her, the bond filled with confidence. “I know we can.”


	3. An Invitation to Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

“Tetsurou!” Hermione raced through her soulmate’s house, thankful that his parents weren’t home. Apparently, Tuesday nights were their date night. She didn’t try to understand it, but she did think the sentiment was sweet. 

She thrust open the door to his bedroom. “Minerva says that she’ll sign all the paperwork for me to do my last year self-study, but I’ll have to go back to take my NEWT’s with everyone else.” 

Relief flooded the bond as Tetsurou looked up from his potion, quickly casting a stasis charm on it. “That’s wonderful news!”

“She has one condition, though.”

Tetsurou was eyeing her warily. _Why is she nervous?_ “What’s the condition?”

“She wants to meet you first.”

Tetsurou sat down on his stool with a sigh. “I guess I’m going to England, then.”

“Scotland, actually. Though the Weasleys live in England and we’ll probably stay with them, if we go visit Hogwarts.”

Tetsuroa groaned. “How many people, exactly, will I be meeting?”

“Well… Harry says everyone wants to meet you, really, but if it’s too much…”

“Hermione…” 

“Just the Order. And some of the D.A.”

“Hermione.”

“Oh, fine, it’s a lot of people, but most of the time we’ll just be with the Weasleys. You’ll meet everyone else at the reopening party for Hogwarts.” Hermione handed him a parchment invitation. “You’re invited as my plus one.”

_Parchment? Antiquated Brits…_

He skimmed then parchment, then both looked and felt overwhelmed. Hermione sighed. “Is it too much? I’m sure Minerva just wants to meet you, she would still let me take the courses—”

“It’s fine.” Tetsurou rubbed the back of his head. “Just… a lot to take in. I’ve never been outside Japan before, much less invited to a high society event in a foreign country.”

“It’s hardly a high society event—”

“Is everyone invited?”

“Well, probably not…”

“Will press be there?”

“Most likely…”

“It’s a high society event.” He tapped a line on the invitation. “It even says to wear your best robes. Robes! Like I have any of those.”

Hermione giggled, trying to picture Tetsurou in the Victorian style robes. “Any formal clothing will do. It doesn’t have to be robes. I wore a muggle dress to the TriWizard Ball.”

Tetsurou paused. “Ok, that…helps.” A slow smirk spread across his face, “So kimonos?”

Hermione’s brain stuttered to a halt. Tetsurou. In a kimono. “Yes.” She swallowed hard, not even trying to hide how much she liked that idea. He had already felt it through the bond, anyway. “That would work.” 

“If I’m going as your plus one, we should match.”

Match? “You…want me to wear a kimono, too?” She blinked at his clear arousal at the idea. “…ok, if it would make you that happy.”

“It would.” He grinned at her, then looked back down at the invitation. “August 23rd?! That’s in like, five days, Mio.”

She winced. “I know it’s last minute, but they just finished the castle today and they didn’t want to hold it the weekend before school started—things would be too busy then. And Kingsley already arranged the portkey for us, but since it was such short notice he didn’t really have time to check on our schedules, so he just set it up to leave Friday morning and then bring us back Monday morning.”

Tetsurou threw his head back and groaned. “So we have three days before we leave for England.”

“Yes.”

“And I’m going to miss another two days of practice.”

“Gomen.” She really did feel guilty about that, but it’s not like Kingsley could have known.

“I’m telling coach that your crazy aunt and uncle back home are demanding to meet me and booked us roundtrip flights for this weekend and won’t take no for an answer.”

Hermione laughed, “They’re not blood relatives, but it’s close enough to the truth, so why not.”

Tetsurou stood up with a sigh, giving his potion one last longing look. “Come on, then, we better go shopping for some kimonos.”


	4. Meeting Nohebi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.
> 
> This scene is based off of the end of chapter 190 in the manga when Nekoma meets Nohebi before the Nekoma v. Fukurodani match.

Hermione still wasn’t exactly sure how this situation had come to pass. She had mentioned to Tetsurou’s mother last week that she wished she could help Nekoma like she did Karasuno, since she spent as much time in Tokyo as she did in Miyagi, anyway, and the next thing she knew the woman was calling the Nekoma coach and then, one day later, handing her a Nekoma jersey. 

Since Nekoma, unlike Karasuno, didn’t even have a manager, Hermione was now the only manager for the team, and, thus, the team’s official manager that would accompany them to matches, despite the fact that she wasn’t even enrolled at Nekoma High School. Hermione still wasn’t sure how that worked, but she honestly wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. The coach had just clapped her on the shoulder, muttered something about her making herself useful if she was going to keep stealing his captain, and then wandered off. 

And now she was acting as the head manager for Nekoma at the Tokyo Area Qualifiers for the Spring Tournament. 

Hermione fidgeted. She still felt like she didn’t know nearly enough about this sport. Beside her, Tetsurou was in the middle of giving a prep talk to the team. However, another team was walking toward them, and they soon interrupted him, taunting her soulmate in Japanese. 

Tetsurou pulled back his teammate, Yamamoto-san, calling the other team snakes or something, but then the other boy said something about Tetsurou’s hair.

Hermione sniffed in disdain. She liked Tetsuoru’s crazy hair.

Tetsurou shot her a look and started laughing. Had he heard that thought? His next sentence was simple enough Japanese that she could translate it and left no doubt that he had- ‘my girlfriend likes my hair’- then he added something about a girl named Mika and the other boy hurting. 

_Who’s Mika?_

_His ex._

Hermione rolled her eyes. It wasn’t exactly nice of Tetsurou to bring something like that up, but this boy had brought it upon himself by coming up and starting the fight, so she’d let it slide. 

Then Lev showed up and made some remark about going to the restroom? Hermione was confused, but glad that the situation seemed to have diffused.


	5. Pre-Match Nekoma v. Fukurodani

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

As they approached the court, Hermione could feel Tetsurou’s nerves building. She reached over and squeezed his hand. 

The thought had brely formed in his head before an exuberant “Hey, hey, hey!” called out across the gym and Bokuto bounded over to them. “Look who’s finally here!” He skidded to a stop, jaw dropping at the sight of her in a Nekoma jersey. “Granger! What are you doing here?!”

“Ohayou, Bokuto!” Hermione grinned at the exuberant spiker. It was good to see him again, even if the atmosphere was a bit tense since they would be playing against him. “I’m Nekoma’s manager, now.”

“Eh?!” Bokuto was still looking at her in shock. 

Akaashi came up beside his soulmate and smiled at her. “Ohayou, Granger. This is a nice surprise.”

“I offered to help, and Coach Nekomata said I might as well. I think he believes that if both of us are at practice it will curb Tetsurou’s sudden tendency to skip.”

Bokuto laughed. “Can’t stay away from her, huh, bro? You can’t let anything come between you and practice so close to a big match.” His grin was huge, eager to start their game. “We’re not going to go easy on you.”

“I’d never expect you to.” Tetsurou smirked at the two other wizards. He gave a dramatic shrug. “Things came up.”

“You weren’t hurt?” Akaashi was frowning at them both.

“Arigatou, Akaashi. We’re both fine. Just some demands from back home, is all.”

_Perfect. Great follow through, love._

_Follow through? On what?_ Hermione wanted to groan. Tetsurou was up to something, but it seemed to just be messing with Bokuto, so she’d play along.

“EH? England?” Bokuto looked between the two of them in shock, “What?”

“Yes, that is where I’m from, Bokuto.” Akaashi sighed at her sarcastic response. 

Kenma provided the helpful insertion that “they just went for a weekend,” but Bokuto was still looking between the three of them, clearly lost.

“Why did you go to England?”

“We had to go to Scotland.” Tetsurou answered Bokuto as if this was the most reasonable explanation ever, which it was, since England was the rational path to take to Hogwarts, but Bokuto didn’t know that. 

“EH?!” Bokuto exploded.

Akaashi’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “Why don’t we focus on the match for now, Bokuto? I’m sure they will explain in more detail after you beat them.”

It was like Akaashi had flipped a switch. “Yeah!” Bokuto nodded firmly, pointing straight at Tetsurou. “After I win, you’ll explain all this, right?”

“After I win, I’ll be glad to explain my international travels, sure.” The two friends and rivals glared at each other.

_Tch. All that work to provoke him into a bad mood and Akaashi ruined it. Leave it to Bokuto’s soulmate._

Hermione sighed. Of course that’s why Tetsurou had conveniently waited until right before the match to inform one of his closest friends about his travels. 

Cheers from either school began to sound off across the gym. Hermione was surprised to hear trumpets from Fukurodani’s side Tetsurou rolled his shoulders back and held out his hand. “Let’s have a good game, Bokuto.”

Bokuto grinned back, eyes alight as gave his hand a firm shake up and down. “Only the best, bro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The match will come eventually! If you haven't noticed already, though, these chapters are all going to be much shorter, smaller snippets than some of the long over 10k word chapters in Trial by Fire. That means the match will be spread out over a few chapters, but that's more along the lines of what we're used to, right?


	6. Meeting Crookshanks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.
> 
> ANNOUNCEMENT: I decided to start an actual sequel!! For more info see the end notes.

_Tetsurou, come open the door, please. My arms are full._ Hermione shifted in front of Tetsurou’s house, Crookshanks wiggling in her arms. Harry had stopped by the other day to check on her and had thankfully brought her cat along as she’d requested. She’d missed the orange bundle of fur.

Of course, she hadn’t appreciated it when Kei had taken one look at her cat and burst out laughing.

Poor Crookshanks.

 _Tetsuroooouuuu, would you please open the door?_ Crookshanks was getting heavy, but she didn’t want to put him down outside in case he decided to go exploring before she could even introduce him to Tetsurou.

She felt Tetsurou finally move toward the door through their bond. _Sorry, sorry, I had a potion going. Besides, I think doorbells, not sophisticated soulbonds, are how you’re supposed to make that request, love._

_But my arms are full!_

The door opened, and Tetsurou immediately blinked. “What kind of cat is that?”

“You better not say he’s ugly.”

“Ah…no?” Tetsurou leaned down so that his face was even with Crookshanks’. “He’s kinda cute in a weird way.” The two stared at each other. Tetsurou sighed when the cat reached out to swap at his hair, and quickly batted the paw away. “Is he part kneazle?” He stood up, pulling his hair out of reach and earning an annoyed look from the cat. 

“Yes!” Hermione beamed at her soulmate. “No one wanted him at the store, but he’s such an intelligent cat.” She set Crooks down inside the doorway and the cat sat there, watching Tetsurou warily. “You’ll be staying here for a while, alright Crooks?”

The cat looked between them both for a second, then slowly began to walk around, looking into each room and clearly evaluating what he saw.

“Thank you for agreeing to keep my cat.” At least his reaction had been better than Harry and Ron’s, and Crookshanks even seemed to like him a bit. She gave him a hug, not noticing that Crookshanks stopped his patrol to watch their interaction.

“Of course, love.” He closed the front door behind them. “Your cat is great. Crookshanks, right?” Crooks was at their feet again, staring at Tetsurou.

“Yes.” She smiled at Tetsurou; he had remembered the name. 

Crookshanks scampered off further into the house. 

He smirked, “I could have just lifted that from your mind to be romantic, you know.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not good enough to do that without me feeling it yet, and you wouldn’t’ve brought it up if that’s what you’d done.” 

He laughed, leading the way back to his room. Hermione wasn’t surprised to find Crookshanks already there, waiting on them with his tail twitching. 

Tetsurou stared at her cat. “I’m not going to lie; your cat’s intelligence is a bit creepy. Cool, but also creepy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANNOUNCEMENT CONTINUED:
> 
> So even though I originally swore to myself I wasn't going to do a full sequel, but just a scene every now and then... I thought of a plot and just started writing...so now there's going to be a sequel. I hope you all enjoy it! It's called BLESSINGS FROM FIRE and will basically be about the year or so after Trial by Fire ends. It's the third installment in this series, so go check it out! The first chapter is already up :) The rest of the Fukurodani match will eventually be posted there, btw.


	7. Kuroo's POV: Meeting Hermione

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been sitting on this scene for a while, now, so I decided to post it. Enjoy! And if you haven't already, check out the sequel I'm writing, 'Blessings From Fire.' 
> 
> Kuroo and Kenma's conversation would obviously be in Japanese, but I'm not good enough at the language to write that, yet, and I want you to be able to read it, so... it's in English here. *shrugs*
> 
> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

“You beat the boss yet, Kenma-cat?” Kuroo looked over his friend’s shoulder at the video game. It was some new RPG Kenma had picked up last week, but this particular screen—two warriors travelling in a purple cave that eventually opened up to a large lake—was already familiar to Kuroo. That Kenma had spent long enough on a boss for Kuroo to recognize the scenery meant that Kenma was frustrated.

That Kenma refused to acknowledge his question meant he was more than frustrated.

“Aw, don’t be like that. You’ll get it.”

“I _know_.” Kenma mashed his finger down on a button in frustration as his characters died once again. He glared at Kuroo. “Don’t distract me.”

“Sheesh.” Kuroo held up his hands defensively. “Fine, fine. Play your game.” He grinned, then patted Kenma’s head. “I’m sure you’ll get it this time.”

He received a sullen glare, then Kenma’s attention once more returned to his game. 

Kuroo looked around for a distraction, then grinned when he saw the Miyagi school bus pull into the parking lot. About time the country boys showed up—all the other schools had been here for at least half an hour. 

“I’m going to go bug Tsukki, ok?”

No response. 

Kuroo rolled his eyes. He supposed he should have expected that. 

The ‘death’ screen popped up again on his teammate’s screen, and Kuroo slowly backed away as Kenma began to emit an aura of anger and frustration. It really was best to avoid Kenma when he got this annoyed with a game. Hopefully he’d beat the boss before the volleyball games started. 

Hopefully.

If not, it would be his job to drag Kenma away from the console, and he did not look forward to that. 

Kuroo looked back toward the Miyagi bus, then froze. A warm buzz filled his body from head to toe as his magic went haywire reaching out toward the girl standing next to Tsukki. It felt as if his entire world had shifted and was focused entirely on her.

A soulbond.

Shit. Now? At camp?

But a soulbond! He’d found his soulmate. A smirk slowly formed across his face. He’d found his soulmate, and he hadn’t even gone to any of those stupid soulmate parties yet.

Damn she was beautiful.

And Tsukki knew her. He began walking toward them. They were close—their body language said that much. She was turning toward Tsukki, muttering something, and Tsukki’s body language suddenly shifted to become guarded. His entire torso stiffened, and he was glaring at Kuroo.

Well he couldn’t have that. “Oi! Tsukki!” 

The glare worsened, and Kuroo’s smirk grew. This could be fun. He came to a stop in front of the two. The girl looked like a foreigner, British maybe? He should probably speak English. “Care to introduce us, Tsukki?”

“Hell no.” 

Kuroo laughed. Of course Tsukki would be stubborn. Unperturbed, Kuroo held his hand out to the girl. Normally they didn’t shake hands in Japan, but… his magic was still pulling him toward her, yearning for that physical contact. And they did shake hands in England, right? She didn’t look disturbed by the gesture, at least. “Kuroo Tetsurou, third year captain of the Nekoma team.” And potions specialist, but he couldn’t add that part here.

The second her hand slid into his, he felt like everything that he hadn’t known he’d been missing was suddenly present. Like there had been this huge hole that he hadn’t noticed just because it had always been there, but now it was full. 

“Granger Hermione.”

Kuroo’s eyes widened. He barely registered the hollowness that he felt when she pulled her hand back from the handshake. _The_ Granger? The one that just helped win the war in Britain? How was he equal to her? How was _she_ his soulmate? “Is that so?” He was proud of how normal his voice sounded after that bombshell of information. “You’re far away from home.”

“Kei-kun is my cousin. I’m spending time with some family after all that happened.” Kei-kun? Tsukki was her cousin? Then he probably knew about magic. Especially if she was living with him. “I’d prefer to keep my location secret, though.”

“No problem with that here,” he raised his hands in defense, then grinned and added, “I’d rather keep you to myself.”

“I can’t tell him to fuck off, can I?” Tsukki’s voice tore his eyes away from his soulmate. Kuroo evaluated the mix of resignation and annoyance in Tsukki's voice. Oh, he knew alright. And Kuroo’d bet anything the girl had already told him they were soulmates. 

“No, Kei-kun.” Kuroo smirked at the younger middle blocker. This was definitely going to be fun. 

Tsukki groaned. 

“There, there, Tsukki. This just means you’ll get to hang out with me for a long time.”

Another groan. Kuroo’s grin widened. 

“You…um, you speak English well. I’ve noticed that a few people know some, but most won’t try.”

Kuroo returned his attention to his soulmate. There would be plenty of time to annoy Tsukki later. “There aren’t many of us here in Japan, you know?” Well, she may not know, now that he thought about it, but the girl nodded, so he continued. “We often end up taking jobs abroad, at least for a bit, so most of us are bilingual. And English is already taught in schools, so…” he shrugged. “It’s the easiest.”

Kei was looking between them with annoyance. “Is there anyone else here that will be surprisingly good at English?”

Kuroo laughed, “Yeah, there are two others.” He scanned the crowd but paused when he saw Hermione stiffen. “They’re friends. They won’t say anything.” Bokuto and Akaashi would never hurt anyone, much less talk to Deatheaters or anyone like that. 

“I can’t deal with this right now.” Kuroo raised an eyebrow in amusement at Tsukki’s clear frustration. Then his eyebrow began to twitch when Tsukki grabbed Granger’s arm and began to pull her away. He wanted to grab her and pull her close, to accept the pull of his magic toward her.

He shut down that thought. She looked overwhelmed, too, not just Tsukki. Kuroo had all week. She wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how protective Tsukki became.

“Save a chair for me at lunch, alright, love?” Kuroo called after her, and she barely had time to nod before Tsukki had pulled her around a corner, dragging her suitcase after her.

Well. This would be an interesting week.

Right now, though, he had a grumpy Kenma to pry away from his game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, all kudos and comments are much appreciated! Any feedback at all, really.


	8. Trial By Fire: July 19 (aka Girl Time)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I promise myself that I'm going to put this story aside for a week. That I need to work instead...and then I can't work because a side scene keeps bopping around in my head. Sigh. Well, I hope y'all enjoy the scene! A missing moment between Yachi, Shimizu, and Hermione. It occurs right before the training camp, so she hasn't met Kuroo yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

The bell rang and Hermione slumped down in her seat. Logically, she knew she was better than she had been before at Japanese. She knew some words now, some key phrases…but she was still so confused by so many things.

And now school was over, so she wouldn’t have as much of a chance to practice. At least she could practice some with the volleyball team. 

Kei stretched in front of her as she slowly closed her notebook, tucking the pen into its spine and then putting it into her purse.

“Do you need to do anything before practice?”

Her cousin shook his head, slipping his textbooks into his bag and standing up. “It doesn’t really feel like school’s over. Not when I’ll still being seeing those idiots practically every day.”

Hermione smiled, “If you hate them so much, you could quit.”

An annoyed grimace crossed his face and he turned to walk out of the classroom, refusing to respond.

Hermione laughed and hurried after him. “I’m just saying, your hatred isn’t that convincing.”

“Whatever.”

“Granger-san!” Hermione turned to look down the hallway, blinking in surprise when she saw Shimizu and Yachi coming toward them. 

“It’s the last day of school, so it’s tradition for the guys to have fun together instead of practice. I figured, as managers, we could do the same thing.” Shimizu smiled at her.

Hermione grinned, “That sounds great, thank you.”

Kei’s head was tilted back as he stared at the ceiling in annoyance. “Have fun together? What does that mean?”

Shimizu smirked, “Go to the gym and find out.”

“Is this why the third years have been whispering so much recently?”

Shimizu shrugged.

Kei made a ‘tch’ of annoyance. 

Hermione rolled her eyes, “Go to the gym, Kei-kun. If you skip—and I will find out if you do—I won’t be happy with you.”

He glared at her. “You’re evil.”

“Tsukkiii!” Yamaguchi came running up, Hinata bouncing behind him. Hermione caught the word for ‘practice’ in his rapid Japanese.

Kei grimaced, but nodded. 

Yamaguchi’s eyes widened as he suddenly noticed the three managers, who he hadn’t seen through the crowded hallway. He blushed. “Ano…Are you all coming, too?”

His eyes seemed to be looking everywhere but at Yachi. Hermione smiled, “We’ll be there shortly. You three go ahead.”

He nodded shyly, then muttered something to Hinata in Japanese. Maybe a translation? Whatever it was had the boy running toward the gym again, Yamaguchi following him and Kei trudging behind the two.

Hermione turned back to the two girls. “So where are we going?”

“There is a good tea place near the school.”

Hermione nodded. “Sounds good to me.” Shimizu and Yachi had ok English, but it was somewhat stilted…Hermione hoped this would be enjoyable and her presence didn’t make things awkward. It would be nice to have some more girls as friends.

The walk to the tea shop was definitely awkward. Yachi kept biting her lip and looking between the two of them, obviously unsure if she should try to start a conversation. Hermione sighed.

“I appreciate being included, but I’m not staying in Japan for much longer…” well, probably. Maybe. “If it would be easier if this was just the two of you and you could talk in Japanese, that’s fine. I can just head home…”

“No, please!” Yachi had reached out to grab her wrist, but then she nervously let go. “I want to be friends.”

Hermione blinked. “Alright…” 

Shimizu stopped outside a store. There were a few teacups scattered on posters at the front, so Hermione supposed this was the tea shop.

“Is macha tea fine? I can go order. You two can find a table?” 

Yachi nodded eagerly, “Macha is great! Do you need some money?” She reached for her wallet, but Shimizu shook her head and turned to Hermione, obviously expecting her to answer, as well.

Hermione shrugged, “I’ll try anything. I don’t know much about Japanese tea.” Her aunt seemed to prefer British teas, so Hermione had just been using those at home.

Shimizu nodded, “Macha is something you should at least try once, then.” With that she pushed open the door and headed toward the counter inside. Yachi made a beeline for a booth for four by the wall, so Hermione shrugged and joined her.

Then she was in the diner with Harry and Ron, two deatheaters attacking them… Hermione shook her head. The war was over. 

She slid into the side of the booth facing the door, her right hand rubbing her arm. 

“Are you ok?” 

Hermione blinked and looked at the girl in front of her. Yachi. Not Harry or Ron. Right. She was in Japan.

“You look…nervous?”

“I’m fine.” Hermione gave the girl a tight smile. “Just an unpleasant memory. Gomen.”

Shimizu came over then, carrying three cups. She set them down in the center of the table. “They will bring the pot when it is ready.”

“Arigatou, Shimizu-san.” Hermione absentmindedly pulled one of the cups toward her as Yachi echoed her thanks.

Shimizu suddenly grinned at the two of them. “We’re alone now, and there’s no boys, so…have you dated? Do you like one of the guys?”

Hermione’s eyes widened and Yachi let out a surprised, “eh?!”

Shimizu snickered, “Is that a no?” They both still stared at her in silence. Shimizu rolled her eyes, “We can’t talk about this at practice. The guys are there. Let’s talk about it now.”

Hermione bit her lip. Girl bonding. She could do this. “I’ve…dated.” 

“Eh?!” Yachi turned to look at her in surprise.

“One of my best friends back home. We broke it off, though. Decided we worked better as friends.”

“Oh.” Yachi looked a little bit sad for her, “You are still friends, then?”

Hermione nodded, “Of course.”

Shimizu smiled, “What is he like?”

“Um… goofy? But loyal. Sweet. Athletic. He doubts himself a lot…” Hermione trailed off at Shimizu’s rolled eyes. 

“What does he look like, Granger-san? What’s your type?”

Hermione blushed. Her type? “Athletic, I suppose.” That was really the only physical similarity between Viktor and Ron. That and the fact that they cared about more than just looks.

“Oh?” Now Shimizu was smirking. “Do you like any of the guys, then?”

Hermione wrinkled her nose, “It’s not like I can talk with most of them, so no.” And then there was the whole soulmate thing.

Yachi was fiddling with her cup, now. “You talk with the first years. We all have lunch every day.”

“Kageyama-san and Hinata-san don’t know English. And no offense, but they’re a bit young for me.”

Yachi actually smiled brightly at that. “So you don’t like Yamaguchi-san, then?”

Shimizu started laughing. 

Hermione grinned.

Yachi blushed bright red. “It’s just, you can talk with him! And-and he’s athletic. And sweet a-and l-loyal like you s-said…” 

“He’s all yours, Yachi-san.”

Hermione hadn’t thought the girl could turn a brighter red, but she managed. The tea pot arrived then, and Yachi hastily poured herself a cup and tried to hide behind her drink. To try and help her a bit, Hermione turned to Shimizu, “Do you like anyone then, Shimizu-san? Since you brought this up?”

The girl shook her head, “Not on our team.” She paused, thinking. “How do I say…” She shrugged, then explained, “Sugawara and Daichi have been dating for a long time.”

Hermione blinked in surprise, “They are? I noticed they are close, but I hadn’t thought they were dating.”

Shimizu smiled sadly, “They…aren’t obvious? Because of prejudices.”

Yachi and Hermione both frowned, “That’s always sad.” 

Shimizu nodded, “I also think Azumane has a crush on Nishinoya. He won’t talk about it, though.” She shrugged, “So no third year is left for me to date.” Shimizu poured herself a cup, then began pouring one for Hermione.

Hermione grinned, “There’s always Tanaka-san.” She accepted the cup of tea from Shimizu with a quietly added, “Arigatou.”

Now it was Shimizu’s turn to wrinkle her nose. “No. He’s sweet, but no. Too loud.”

The three girls giggled a bit, then lapsed into silence, unsure of what to talk about next. The team was the only thing they had in common, really, but the purpose of this seemed to be to talk about other things and get to know each other. They each sipped their tea.

“Do you like the macha?” Shimizu was watching Hermione as she set her cup back down.

“It’s…strong. And bitter, but not bad.” Hermione took another sip.

“Why did you come to Japan, Granger-san?”

Hermione tensed. Sensing that Shimizu quickly backpedaled, “If you don’t mind saying…? Is it a vacation?”

She rubbed at her left arm uneasily. She didn’t want to say anything. But she wanted to be their friend, and that meant she should open up at least a little…. “Kei-kun didn’t mention anything?”

They shook their heads. Yachi spoke up, “He said you were staying with his family for a while.”

Hermione nodded. That lack of detail was probably for the best, but… “You know the terrorist attacks in England?” That’s how the damage had been described to the muggle world, at least.

The two nodded, concern now marring their features.

“My parents and some friends died in those.” There. Vague, but enough to let them know some details. “Aunt Sarah invited me here to help me escape from memories.”

“Gomen.” Shimizu’s voice was quiet. “Thank you for telling us.”

Hermione shrugged. “Being here does help. Everything is so different…there are still times I remember something and get really sad, though. It will be nice to have people besides Kei-kun who know why and I won’t have to explain it to.”

“I see.” Yachi fidgeted a bit, as if looking for a way to change the topic. Finally, she stated, “I’ve been to London once. Mom went for her work.”

“You have?” Hermione turned her attention to the girl. “Where did you go? What did you think?”

“It was…rainy.” Yachi smiled shyly. “I stayed inside most of the time.”

Hermione laughed. “It does rain a lot.”

Yachi shrugged, “Mom also was working all day. I was young, so I stayed in the hotel.”

“Well that’s a waste.” 

Yachi nodded. 

Hermione tried to think of a way to get the subject off of England. She came here because she didn’t want to think about home much, after all. “We’re going to Tokyo soon, right? Have either of you ever been?”

Yachi nodded, “With my mom, but it was for her work again.”

Hermione gave the girl a sympathetic smile, then turned to Shimizu.

“Just once. It seems like we’ll be staying at the school the whole time, though.”

Hermione sighed. “Yeah…. I wish there was one day off. It would be nice to see the city. What’s it like?”

“Welll…” Shimizu grinned suddenly, “last time we went the boys thought a transmission tower was the Tokyo Tower.”

Hermione laughed, “What? Why?”

The girl shrugged. “They _are_ bigger there, but it was still funny.”

“What else happened?”

And with that, Shimizu launched into stories about the previous camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and reviews are much appreciated :)


	9. Tsukki's pov: Meeting Hermione

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm still writing on and off, just taking some time to further develop Blessings/focus on my health before I get back to writing it! I want to make sure that I do the plot justice ;) In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Tsukki's perspective on meeting Hermione!
> 
> Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

Kei sighed. While he was always willing to escape from volleyball practice, he wasn’t really eager to welcome a cousin that he didn’t really remember. Especially since she would be staying with them for an undetermined amount of time and would even be going to school with him.

He sighed. Hopefully she would just be staying for a few weeks, but it was annoying, no matter what.

Everyone would be curious about the new girl, and he just knew he was going to have to translate for her.

Kei fidgeted next to his brother, who was talking animatedly with their mom about their cousin. Her name was Granger Hermione, and she was 18. Kei knew that much, at least.

Nothing else really mattered.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long. It hadn’t even been ten minutes before his mother let out a relieved breath and muttered something about being glad their cousin hadn’t taken the wrong train. She called out, “Granger-san!” And a young girl with the bushiest hair Kei had even seen turned to look at them.

She looked… dead.

Not even five seconds had passed and Kei understood why his mother had invited her. It was clear the girl wasn’t handling her parents’ deaths well. Not that Kei could say he’d do any better. He tried to hide his shudder behind a friendly wave. He thought it worked? Akiteru didn’t give him a weird look, at least.

When she reached them, Kei nodded along to her request that they use her first name but blinked in surprise when she commented on his growth. She remembered them? Well, he supposed she had been a little older than he was when they had last met, but still… it had been ten years. He decided to just smirk and nod while his brother asked to help with her luggage. 

Not that she seemed to have anything but the one suitcase. Maybe she was planning on buying more clothes here if she stayed a long time? 

Kei was quiet the whole walk home, letting his mom and brother fill the air with chatter while he followed the group. His cousin gave him an odd look every now and then, but seemed content to talk with the other two, for the most part.

She would nod and smile, but it never reached her eyes. They were just… emotionless. And tired. Exhausted, more like.   
Kei didn’t know what to do.

Dinner was… awkward. After his cousin set her things in the guestroom, they all sat down for dinner, and… well, she was plenty talkative, he supposed. But her answers were all weird and she obviously didn’t feel at ease around them. 

Her “nontraditional school” so sounded insane, and he was glad they didn’t have anything like it (to his knowledge at least) in Japan.

What school didn’t have any technology? Or a heater?

After dinner it just got weirder, though. She ran upstairs to get things to show them, and she seemed eager about it, if a bit fidgety. When she’d mentioned showing them things, Kei even thought he’d caught a flicker of emotion in her eyes.

When she came back downstairs, though, she looked downright terrified. 

Kei hated that the first genuine emotion he saw from her was terror. 

Why on earth was she terrified? Was she going to tell them something about his Aunt and Uncle’s deaths? Something they didn’t know?

After his mom asked her if she was ok, she reached into her bag and… 

Kei blinked.

Her arm went into the bag. It went into the bag up to her shoulder. 

What the heck? 

That shouldn’t be possible.

But she pulled her arm out like it was completely normal, ignoring their awe-struck expressions as she put a book on the table and started flipping through the pages.

The pages had moving pictures. Not holograms, but _actual moving pictures._

That really shouldn’t be possible.

What was going on here? Had she given them some sort of drugs? Were they having a mass-hallucination?

No, that didn’t make sense. People who hallucinated probably didn’t question the hallucination. 

He was so confused. 

Then a freaking dragon set all the words on a page on fire and the words just…. Crumbled into ash. 

Why the heck would someone even want that to happen? You couldn’t read a book like that! So why do it? Why make that special effect?

He was going insane. That must be the answer.

While Kei was staring at the blank page in shock, his mom spoke gently, “What exactly are we seeing, Hermione-chan?”

His cousin took a deep breath, then just blurted out--“I’m a witch.” 

What.

Was _she_ insane? He’d say her parents’ deaths had caused some kind of psychotic break, but—his eyes flickered back toward the book. The impossible book with the moving pictures and the dragon that destroyed the text.

None of that should be possible.

His cousin looked scared, still, as she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, but the fear had left her eyes. Her voice was steady as she continued, “That’s why my school is so weird. Why the pictures in the textbook move. Why I have a textbook that talks about creatures that aren’t supposed to exist.”

He looked back at the book. Right. She had said that it was a textbook. That detail had gotten somewhat lost after he saw the _moving pictures._

She pushed the book toward them, then reached into her freaking Mary Poppins bag again. 

A scarf.

It looked innocent, just sitting there, but after the book he didn’t trust it. It was going to do som—the lion roared. 

Kei did _not_ jump. And if he did it was because of the simple fact that _scarf designs should not roar._

His eyes widened. Nor should they move. They should not walk along the edge of the scarf and rear up. 

Kei needed to rethink his whole view on life at the moment and he was kind of freaking out.

He needed information.

After his mom took the scarf, staring at it incredulously, Hermione brought out more books. 

History of Magic?

That might have answers. He reached for it, though he paused and looked to his cousin to make sure it was ok to touch, who knew if this had some nonsensical special effect like the stupid dragon, after all. After she nodded, he slowly picked it up. Godric Gryffindor? Goblin rebellions? Trade agreements with centaurs? 

He had more questions than before. 

“Say something?” Right. She must be scared about their reaction to this. 

Understandable, honestly. Though the amount of terror she’d had beforehand…. Kei couldn’t help but wonder if there was something he was missing.

Of course there was. He was missing _so much_ right now.

This was all so insane.

So unbelievable.

There had to be a trick somewhere, right? A catch? These were all just magic props?

But…

He looked down at the book in his hands.

It was really elaborate for a trick. Yet for a fantasy book, it would be really boring.

“Oh, Hermione-chan,” his mother went around the table and hugged his cousin. “You were terrified to tell us this, weren’t you?”

That much was obvious. 

“Well…” his cousin laughed incredulously. “You have to admit that it sounds insane.”

“No duh.” He winced as Akiteru hit his shoulder. He’d said it in Japanese! It wasn’t like she could understand him! Or… could she? If there was magic…. His brow furrowed. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like not _knowing._

When his mom asked why magic was kept secret, Kei immediately looked at his cousin. He wanted to know that, too. 

“It started with the witch hunts, really, then just…kept going.” Witch hunts? He vaguely remembered something about that from his world history course… “there are laws now, to keep it secret. You can only tell your closest relatives.”

Closest…? But…

He didn’t even know her.

He was her closest relative, and he didn’t know her.

He frowned, trying to remember their last visit, trying to remember something besides a vague memory of rain and a laugh and…

Nothing.

Nothing at all. 

He closed his eyes in annoyance, then let out a long sigh.

Family was important.

He could at least start learning.

He carefully set down the history book. Hopefully she’d let him read that later. First, he should get to know her. And she seemed more comfortable talking about this stuff than she had been at dinner. He looked at the other books, trying to think of something to ask. 

“If you’re a witch.” He picked up the one next to it. A textbook about… charms? “What all can you do?”

She gave him a smile, though it still didn’t reach her eyes. “All sorts of things, really.” 

Kei’s eyes widened when a long stick of wood materialized in her palm after she flicked her wrist.

A wand? She had a freaking wand?

He was beginning to doubt the hallucination and insanity theories more and more.

“Sorry, um….” His cousin sighed, “I’m a bit paranoid, so I usually keep my wand in an invisible wrist holster. You’ll feel it if you touch my wrist, but otherwise,” she shrugged, “no one can see it.”

So the invisible wrist holster thing wasn’t normal. It was something she did because she was paranoid. But why was she paranoid? She acted like this was something she’d done for a long time. Not something new. 

Basics. Start with the basics, then think about his cousin’s issues. “So you use wands.”

“and potions, and brooms, and all those typical things, yes. I even have a cat, but I left him with my friends.”

Kei blinked. That was…a lot. It seemed like they were mostly western tropes, though. Were there wizards in Japan? Did they follow more eastern practices?

What was another western trope…? “Owls?”

“My friends have some, yes.”

But not her. So normal, but not universal. That was good to know. He opened the book he’d picked up, wondering what else there was to know. “It says here you can… levitate things?” He looked up at her. Would she do it now? Prove to him that magic was real?

Her answering smile reached her eyes.

Why? Why did _that question_ of all questions, get that response?

She set one of the books on the ground, then said “Wingardium Leviosa.” The book floated over to his dad, dropping into his stunned hands.

Well.

That….

That happened.

Kei stared at the book.

It had just been sitting on the table. There hadn’t seemed to be anything about that would let her do _that._ Not to his knowledge, at least.

“My cousin’s a witch.” Akiteru sounded both fascinated and terrified.

Honestly, Kei could relate. 

“Can I borrow this book?” He pointed at the history book he’d been holding earlier. He wanted to know more about her world. Studying its history would be an easy way to figure out what she dealt with. Why she felt paranoid.

She sighed, “It’s a bit biased as a source, and doesn’t go into recent years, but sure.” Why was it important that it didn’t go into recent years? Why specify that? His cousin tapped the book’s cover, and Kei blinked as it transformed. Now it looked like a plain green book with the title ‘The Rules of the Court of England.’ “Now you can take it out into public, as long as you don’t let anyone read it or see the pictures.”

That was… a really neat trick. 

He swallowed. The existence of magic…. It was still hard to wrap his mind around. But there was no way the book’s leather cover would have allowed for any kind of holographic image switching or anything like that.

“Thank you.” He pulled the book closer to his chest. Hopefully it wouldn’t have any annoying pictures that burned the words. 

Akiteru laughed at him, “He’s going to be barraging you with questions for weeks, you know.”

Kei glared at his brother. Of course he would be! It was the only rational thing to do in this situation!

His cousin just smiled, though. “He’s welcome to.” Suddenly her smile turned mischievous. Kei blinked, surprised at the emotion from her. “He just has to help me with Japanese in exchange.”

Well. That wasn’t too bad. It would be something to talk about while he tried to get to know her, so they wouldn’t have to search for conversation topics or anything awkward like that. He smirked back at her, “I suppose that would be fair.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you're interested in my Trial by Fire drabbles, Blessings from Fire chapter previews, or the random un-edited snippets I write for other series, check out my discord group! I'm always happy to chat about my work and/or writing/crossovers in general ;) 
> 
> https://discord.gg/MDRdwrN
> 
> As always, please leave kudos and comments! Hearing back from y'all always makes my day :D


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